ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Calcium supplements linked to significantly increased heart attack risk, study suggests
• Turtles more closely related to birds than lizards and snakes, genetic evidence shows
• Fever during pregnancy more than doubles the risk of autism or developmental delay
• RNA: From messenger to guardian of genome integrity
• Hacking code of leaf vein architecture solves mysteries, allows predictions of past climate
• Big step toward quantum computing: Efficient and tunable interface for quantum networks
• A whale of a discovery: New sensory organ found in rorqual whales
• Geological record shows air up there came from below
• Taking solar technology up a notch: New inexpensive, environmentally friendly solar cell shines with potential
• Elusive quasiparticles realized: Repulsive polarons in an ultracold quantum gas
• Chronic pain is relieved by cell transplantation in lab study
• New species top 10 list: Underworld worm, walking cactus creature, blue tarantula, sneezing monkey, and more
• Seagrasses can store as much carbon as forests
• 'Obesity genes' may influence food choices, eating patterns
• Wind-driven Mars tumbleweed rover to roll through rocky terrain?
• Fire beetles may revolutionize early-warning systems for forest fires
• Artificial leaf device produces hydrogen in water using only sunlight
• Light pollution transforming insect communities
• Human-like spine morphology found in aquatic eel fossil
• Touching tarantulas: Overcoming phobias with brief therapy

Calcium supplements linked to significantly increased heart attack risk, study suggests Posted: 23 May 2012 05:07 PM PDT Calcium supplements might increase the risk of having a heart attack, and should be "taken with caution," concludes new research. Furthermore, boosting overall calcium intake from dietary sources confers no significant advantage in terms of staving off heart disease and stroke, the findings indicate.

Turtles more closely related to birds than lizards and snakes, genetic evidence shows Posted: 23 May 2012 05:03 PM PDT Having recently looked at more than a thousand of the least-changed regions in the genomes of turtles and their closest relatives, biologists have confirmed that turtles are most closely related to crocodilians and birds rather than to lizards, snakes, and tuataras.

Fever during pregnancy more than doubles the risk of autism or developmental delay Posted: 23 May 2012 01:19 PM PDT Mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect.

RNA: From messenger to guardian of genome integrity Posted: 23 May 2012 01:13 PM PDT A new and unexpected role for RNA is identified: the defence of genome integrity and stability. New research shows that an until now unknown class of RNA -- the newly christened DDRNA -- plays a key role in activation of the molecular alarms necessary to safeguard our genome when DNA damage from internal or external factors occurs.

Hacking code of leaf vein architecture solves mysteries, allows predictions of past climate Posted: 23 May 2012 11:57 AM PDT Life scientists have discovered new laws leaves follow as they grow and evolve. These easy-to-apply mathematical rules can be used to better predict the climates of the past, as determined from the fossil record. This research has a range of fundamental implications in global ecology, and can improve prediction and interpretation of climate in the deep past from leaf fossils.

Big step toward quantum computing: Efficient and tunable interface for quantum networks Posted: 23 May 2012 10:55 AM PDT Quantum computers may someday revolutionize the information world. But in order for quantum computers at distant locations to communicate with one another, they have to be linked together in a network. While several building blocks for a quantum computer have already been successfully tested in the laboratory, a network requires one additonal component: A reliable interface between computers and information channels. Austrian physicists now report the construction of an efficient and tunable interface for quantum networks.

A whale of a discovery: New sensory organ found in rorqual whales Posted: 23 May 2012 10:32 AM PDT Scientists have discovered a sensory organ in rorqual whales that coordinates its signature lunge-feeding behavior -- and may help explain their enormous size. Rorquals are a subgroup of baleen whales -- including blue, fin, minke and humpback whales. They are characterized by a special, accordion-like blubber layer that goes from the snout to the navel. The blubber expands up to several times its resting length to allow the whales to engulf large quantities of prey-laden water, which is then expelled through the baleen to filter krill and fish. The study details the discovery of an organ at the tip of the whale's chin, lodged in the ligamentous tissue that connects their two jaws.

Geological record shows air up there came from below Posted: 23 May 2012 10:32 AM PDT The influence of the ground beneath us on the air around us could be greater than scientists had previously thought, according to new research that links the long-ago proliferation of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere to a sudden change in the inner workings of our planet.

Taking solar technology up a notch: New inexpensive, environmentally friendly solar cell shines with potential Posted: 23 May 2012 10:32 AM PDT The limitations of conventional and current solar cells include high production cost, low operating efficiency and durability, and many cells rely on toxic and scarce materials. Researchers have now developed a new solar cell that, in principle, will minimize all of these solar energy technology limitations. In particular, the device is the first to solve the problem of the Grätzel cell, a promising low-cost and environmentally friendly solar cell with a significant disadvantage: it leaks. The dye-sensitized cell's electrolyte is made of an organic liquid, which can leak and corrode the solar cell itself.

Elusive quasiparticles realized: Repulsive polarons in an ultracold quantum gas Posted: 23 May 2012 10:31 AM PDT In quantum physics physical processes in condensed matter and other many-body systems can often be described with quasiparticles. For the first time physicists have succeeded in experimentally realizing a new quasiparticle – a repulsive polaron -- in an ultracold quantum gas.

Chronic pain is relieved by cell transplantation in lab study Posted: 23 May 2012 10:30 AM PDT Chronic pain, by definition, is difficult to manage, but a new study shows how a cell therapy might one day be used not only to quell some common types of persistent and difficult-to-treat pain, but also to cure the conditions that give rise to them.

New species top 10 list: Underworld worm, walking cactus creature, blue tarantula, sneezing monkey, and more Posted: 23 May 2012 10:30 AM PDT The top 10 new species list has just been released. It includes a teensy attack wasp, night-blooming orchid, underworld worm, ancient "walking cactus" creature, blue tarantula, Nepalese poppy, giant millipede, sneezing monkey, fungus named for cartoon character and beautiful jellyfish.

Seagrasses can store as much carbon as forests Posted: 23 May 2012 08:48 AM PDT Seagrasses are a vital part of the solution to climate change and, per unit area, seagrass meadows can store up to twice as much carbon as the world's temperate and tropical forests.

'Obesity genes' may influence food choices, eating patterns Posted: 23 May 2012 08:48 AM PDT Blame it on your genes? Researchers say individuals with variations in certain "obesity genes" tend to eat more meals and snacks, consume more calories per day and choose the same high fat, sugary foods.

Wind-driven Mars tumbleweed rover to roll through rocky terrain? Posted: 23 May 2012 08:48 AM PDT New research shows that a wind-driven "tumbleweed" Mars rover would be capable of moving across rocky Martian terrain -- findings that could also help with designing the best possible vehicle.

Fire beetles may revolutionize early-warning systems for forest fires Posted: 23 May 2012 07:21 AM PDT Black fire beetles of the genus Melanophila possess unusual infrared sensors. It seems that they use these to detect forest fires, even from great distances, since their wood-eating larvae can only develop in freshly burned trees. Scientists have been wondering for a long time how sensitive these biological IR sensors really are. Researchers have concluded that the beetles' sensors might even be more sensitive that uncooled infrared sensors designed by humans. Having this natural model opens up new perspectives, such as for early warning systems for forest fires.

Artificial leaf device produces hydrogen in water using only sunlight Posted: 23 May 2012 07:20 AM PDT Scientists have developed, using nanotechnology, a device with semiconductor materials which generate hydrogen independently in water using only sunlight.  This technology, which has been named artificial photosynthesis, was inspired by photosynthesis which occurs naturally. The device is submerged in an aqueous solution which, when illuminated with a light source, forms hydrogen gas bubbles.

Light pollution transforming insect communities Posted: 22 May 2012 05:08 PM PDT Street lighting is transforming communities of insects and other invertebrates, according to new research. The study shows for the first time that the balance of different species living together is being radically altered as a result of light pollution in our towns and cities. Believed to be increasing by six percent a year globally, artificial lighting is already known to affect individual organisms, but this is the first time that its impact on whole communities has been investigated.

Human-like spine morphology found in aquatic eel fossil Posted: 22 May 2012 05:08 PM PDT For decades, scientists believed that a spine with multiple segments was an exclusive feature of land-dwelling animals. But the discovery of the same anatomical feature in a 345-million-year-old eel suggests that this complex anatomy arose separately from -- and perhaps before -- the first species to walk on land.

Touching tarantulas: Overcoming phobias with brief therapy Posted: 21 May 2012 01:40 PM PDT A brief therapy session for adults with a lifelong debilitating spider phobia resulted in lasting changes to the brain's response to fear. The therapy was so successful, the adults were able to hold a tarantula in their bare hands six months after the treatment. This is the first study to document the immediate and long-term brain changes after treatment and to illustrate how the brain reorganizes long-term to reduce fear.

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